If that was in any way true. After the last week and the hysteria over Sony getting KOTOR publishing rights…
Microsoft should immediately get George Lucas to put together a CGI trailer, that starts off with Xbox logo, were he takes off a cloaked hood with a Green lightsaber and announces he is writing the script for KOTOR 3 exclusive to Xbox.
Yeah, people sometimes don’t realise the amount of manpower it takes to keep some of these live service games going. 343i will be busy for a long time with Infinite, so you might as well forget about any potential non Halo Infinite project from them.
Nah, it bombed hard, main studios behind it where Comcept which sold to Level-5, Armature studios went under Epic umbrella, also Asobo provided support, but they clearly moved on.
The average consumer will buy 1 console. They have little clue about MS owning Zenimax/Bethesda and when they are choosing between consoles they’ll just see Deathloop as another quality PS5 exclusive that you can’t get on XSX. Same with Ghost Wire Tokyo.
Upon little to no reflection, I’ve tiered the XGS/Bethesda studios based on their likelihood of creating a GOTY contender within the next 5 years, based on little evidence beyond my own speculation.
Already There:
Arkane Lyon: Deathloop appears to be a masterpiece.
Double Fine: Psychonauts 2 IS a masterpiece.
Very Likely:
Bethesda Game Studios: Starfield is an obviously solid bet for GOTY nominations next year.
Ninja Theory: I loved Hellblade and if Senua’s Saga is Hellblade 1 but with more time and resources then I’ll start the campaign today.
Somewhat Likely:
Arkane Austin: We need to see more of Redfall but you should never bet against either Arkane.
The Coalition: Gears is routinely solid. If MS is investing more in their studios, then any further steps forward for the Gears series would put Gears 6 in GOTY conversations.
iD Software: The Doom guys with time and resources are fairly safe.
MachineGames: I loved The New Colossus and chalk up the Youngblood fiasco to microtransaction mandates. Whatever comes out next (Indiana Jones or Wolfenstein 3) will undoubtedly be very good, if not great.
Obsidian: Avowed seems like a decent bet (though we need to see more) and Outer Worlds with a huge budget is very exciting.
Playground Games: I have every bit of faith that they’ll pull off the transition. Fable is in good hands.
Need More Info:
Compulsion: Their ideas are fascinating but we haven’t seen perfect execution yet. The creativity at this studio gives me some hope though.
inExile Entertainment: Wasteland games have their followers but we’ll need to see what kind of jump they take in scope and gameplay with their next project(s).
The Initiative: On paper, the team making Perfect Dark is as good as it gets for new studios. However, the first in a series (or from a studio for that matter) rarely jumps into GOTY conversations.
Roundhouse Games: We’re just going to blame Square for The Quiet Man, right?
Tango Gameworks: I’m intrigued but I still have no clue what Ghostwire Tokyo really is.
Zenimax Online: TBD but based on the games they generally make, I’m not presuming GOTY quality.
Long Shot
343 Studios: I still have my fingers crossed for Halo Infinite to be great but I can’t imagine it quite meeting the needed criteria let alone surpassing expectations. We’ve all put this series on too high a pedestal for it to likely get GOTY consideration unless it’s a 10/10.
Alpha Dogs: Unless they move out of mobile, probably not.
Mojang: They are what they are: An absolute money-making machine.
Rare: Sea of Thieves is one of my favorite games but I have a tough time seeing a rebooted Everwild jumping to the forefront. Maybe when we see gameplay, my mind will change.
Turn 10 Studios: Forza Motorsport will likely be phenomenal but racing games will likely never take the top prize from most major outlets.
Undead Labs: It would have to take a massive leap in quality to get the State of Decay series into this territory.
World’s Edge: Age of Empires is a well respected series but RTS games never get their due at GOTY time.
It’s wild to think that Xbox now has at least 10 studios that I deem capable of creating a GOTY contender anytime in the next few years. What a comeback!
They most certainly will. Bungie has more people than 343 and they haven’t released anything but destiny 1 and 2 in 11 years with no new game anounced. Ya they are working on something but it takes hundreds of devs to maintain these big games as service titles. GTA online, Fortnite, apex, warzone, destiny. I wouldn’t be surprised if these games average 500+ devs working on them since launch.
I lean towards wanting to see more from them just because of how creative their concepts have been thus far. I quite liked Contrast actually. We’ll see if it was leadership or resources that held back their previous efforts.
Halo infinite as a free to play games as service title will compete with Fortnite, warzone, apex, destiny and other games for players attention and time. Remember it’s supposed to have a 10 year life.
To do this it will be on two fronts.
Multiplayer seasons. Every 3 months they will bring in a new season. This will completely transform the game. It won’t only be new mp maps, small modes, and cosmetics. It will be a lot more than that. It will need to be to keep players attention more than a year or 2. You have to think larger. Big co-op experience expansions. Big modes. It won’t necessarily be battle royale but it will be something huge like that.
campaign expansions. Maybe something similar to destiny’s story expansions. Every 18 to 24 months or so I would expect something large on the campaign side. We probably won’t even defeat atriox in the main game. I expect that will be in an expansion. I think each one will be at least the size of 1/4th the main game… maybe 1/2 the main game. 2 expansions off the top of my head are one to finish fight with atriox, and one to stop a flood outbreak. I don’t expect a halo spin-off for at least 7-8 years from now, and even then that could just be launched from within infinite.
